Stella Boonshoft is fighting back at bullies and showing that she is truly proud of who she is, no matter how large or small her body is.
Boonshoft, a courageous New York University student decided to share a photo of herself wearing her underwear on her personal Tumblr blog. She posted the photo to show off her imperfections and to fight back at those who hurt her throughout her life.
"WARNING: Picture might be considered obscene because subject is not thin. And we all know that only skinny people can show their stomachs and celebrate themselves. Well I'm not going to stand for that. This is my body. Not yours. MINE. Meaning the choices I make about it, are none of your f****** business. Meaning my size, IS NONE OF YOUR F****** BUSINESS.
If my big belly and fat arms and stretch marks and thick thighs offend you, then that's okay. I'm not going to hide my body and my being to benefit your delicate sensitivities," Boonshoft wrote on her blog along with the photo.
Boonshoft then ran into Brandon Stanton, a photographer who takes street portraits for the Humans of New York Project. Boonshoft asked if her could take some clothed photos of her and he did. She then sent him her blog.
Next thing she knew, the photo that she posted to her blog, of herself in her underwear, was all over Facebook. The photo and her story was viewed and shared among millions. She started to read the comments, both kind and nasty, and she began to panic. She e-mailed Stanton and asked him to replace the photo.
"Here I was, this woman speaking about loving yourself and accepting who you are, suddenly absolutely devastated because some random people I don't know were saying nasty things about me on the internet.
Brandon was amazing. He offered advice, his support, and told me if I ever changed my mind he would delete the picture.
I took a few hours with myself to sit and think and absorb what was happening. Should I tell him to delete it? Should I delete my blog? Should I persevere and leave it up?
Finally, I decided to leave it."
Now Boonshoft is doing talk shows and explaining why she decided to post the photo to begin with.
In an interview on the Today show, Boonshoft explained why she dediced to post the photo to her blog and to leave it for all of Facebook to see.
"'It's not to promote being unhealthy. I's not to promote anything like that. It's to take away stigma of overweight people in America because, you know, a lot of us are, and - and that's all right. It doesn't mean that you can look at someone and know what is wrong with their health," Boonshoft told TODAY. "I finally came to a place where I was really happy with the way I looked... and I wanted to, you know, give a message to the bullies who had tormented me and show them that it didn't work."
Boonshoft hopes that her image may change the way society views heavier people. Despite her outward appearance, Boonshoft revealed the results of a recent doctor's visit on her blog. Her cholesterol and blood pressure are just fine and her doctor even told her that she wasn't eating enough.
She hopes to see a size 12 woman on a billboard one day and she hopes that other young woman can also feel better about themselves.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
